NZ trans man uses tattoo to join Movember

A transgender man in New Zealand is joining annual moustache-growing-for-charity month Movember, despite not being able to grow facial hair.

Sam Orchard is using a tattooed moustache on his finger to join Movember and has created Team Fauxstache with a friend to raise awareness about trans men, Stuff.co.nz reports.

‘I liked the idea of having a team that celebrated boys and men and masculine people, who may or may not have been born male,’ Orchard said, who has started taking testosterone but isn’t able to grow a moustache yet.

Movember started in 2004 and aims to bring awareness to men’s health issues, like prostate cancer and depression throughout the month of November.

The-28-year-old said he wanted to bring more awareness to mental health issues among trans men.

‘I work in mental health and I’m also someone who has suffered from depression,’ said Orchard.

‘I wanted to put a different sort of face to that to say trans-guys are guys too, and a lot of us suffer from depression due to social exclusion.’

‘We are way over-represented in mental health services, and that’s not because we are bad at looking after ourselves – it’s to do with discrimination.’

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